How Professional Associations Make it Easy for Freelancers to Get High-Paying Clients

Do you belong to professional associations? If you do, are you active in your professional associations? The answer to both of these questions should be Yes!—because professional associations make it easy for freelancers to get high-paying clients.

Professional associations are where you’ll find people working for the companies you want to work with (a.k.a., clients), and freelance colleagues who can give you referrals to other clients.

Find Better Clients through Professional Associations

Professional associations help freelancers find and attract clients who will pay you what you’re worth and treat you right. By joining and being active, you’ll be able to:

Get more referrals and clients

Learn about your ideal clients

Find ideal clients for your marketing.

Clients Want to Work with Freelancers they Know

Clients want to work with freelancers they know—or freelancers recommended to them by people they know. When clients are looking for a freelancer, they’ll ask colleagues they know from their professional associations for recommendations.

Colleagues from professional associations, especially other freelancers, are a great source of referrals.

Get Referrals and Your Ideal Clients by Building Trust

But you don’t get referrals or your ideal clients just by joining professional associations. People need to know and trust you before they’ll refer work to you. Clients prefer to work with freelancers they know and trust.

Getting to know clients and colleagues and earning their trust takes more than casual interaction.

Volunteering is the quickest way to get to know clients and colleagues and earn their trust. If you’re like most freelancers, volunteering will be much easier than active networking, because you won’t have to “sell yourself.” Doing your volunteer work well and on time and being pleasant and helpful will do the marketing for you.

Look for information about volunteering on the websites of your professional associations. If you don’t find it, just email one of the officers and say you’d like to volunteer.

Network at Events

Networking in person at conferences, meetings, and other events is the best way to impress clients and colleagues and begin to build strong, trusting relationships. Make sure you create a positive first impression by dressing for success and giving more than you take.

Helping others is easy to do; just listen to and learn about them. Then share relevant resources, knowledge, and ideas. Also connect them with other people they would benefit from knowing. By giving more than you take, clients will think of you first when they need a freelancer and colleagues will think of you first when they have a freelance opportunity to refer.

Find and Attract Your Ideal Clients

Along with getting more referrals by joining and being active in professional associations, you’ll also learn more about your ideal clients and meet them. Learning more about your ideal clients helps you attract them, because you’ll be able to focus your marketing on their needs and how you meet those needs.

Learn About Your Ideal Clients

Professional associations make it easy to learn about the industry(ies) you work in or want to work in and your ideal clients. You’ll learn by:

You’ll also stay updated on what’s happening in your industry(ies), with specific clients, and with opportunities for freelancers.

Use Member Directories to Find Your Ideal Clients

The member directories of professional associations are usually the easiest way to find ideal clients for your marketing. You can quickly find:

Companies to target

The name of the right contact person/people

The email address for each contact person (usually; if the directory doesn’t list email addresses, there are other ways to find them).

Once you find your ideal clients, attract them through direct email. Direct email means sending each client a customized email that shows:

You understand the client’s need

How they can help the client meet its needs.

Learn how direct email helped 4 freelancers get 12 clients and how to write direct emails that work.

Some professional associations also have freelance directories where you can list your services so your ideal clients can find you. Always sign up for the freelance directory if the association offers this.

Types of Professional Associations

There are many types of professional associations. Some, like the American Marketing Association, are broad, while others, like the American Medical Writers Association, are focused on specific industries.

Some are national or international while others are local or statewide. National and international associations are best for freelancers, since their memberships are large enough to give you lots of useful contacts and resources, including:

Annual conferences

Other meetings and events

Webinars and other educational opportunities

Newsletters/magazines, reports, and other web-based resources

Online community

Member directory (all associations should have this).

Many national and international professional associations also have local chapters.

How to Find the Right Professional Associations

Asking your current clients and freelance colleagues which professional associations they belong to and would recommend is the easiest way to find the right associations for you. You can email colleagues one on one, and/or use LinkedIn or the online communities of your current professional associations.

Searching for the Right Professional Associations

Use the Directory of Associations to search for professional associations. You can search by hundreds of categories, including business, education, finance, health, and marketing. Focus on national and international professional associations.

Checking Out Professional Associations

Before joining a professional association, check out the website and available resources, and try to go to a meeting or conference.

Sometimes though, you just have to join for a year and see what you think. You can’t get access to the member directory, a key benefit of any professional association, until you join. So you don’t know how many of the members could be good prospects for you.